9.  The applicant was born in 1956 in Ruse, where he lived until December 2002 and where his half-sister and his father’s second wife, his only close relatives, also live. On 20 December 1990 a panel of occupational physicians declared him unfit to work. The panel found that as a result of being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1975, the applicant had a 90% degree of disablement but did not require assistance. He is in receipt of an invalidity pension on that account.
10.  On an unspecified date in 2000, at the request of the applicant’s two relatives, the Ruse regional prosecutor applied to the Ruse Regional Court (Окръжен съд) for a declaration of total legal incapacity in respect of the applicant. In a judgment of 20 November 2000, the court declared the applicant to be partially incapacitated on the grounds that he had been suffering from simple schizophrenia since 1975, and that his ability to manage his own affairs and interests and to realise the consequences of his own acts had been impaired. The court found that the applicant’s condition was not so serious as to warrant a declaration of total incapacity. It observed, in particular, that during the period from 1975 to 2000 he had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital on several occasions. The court took into account an expert medical report produced in the course of the proceedings and interviewed the applicant. Furthermore, according to certain other people it interviewed, the applicant had sold all his possessions, begged for a living, spent all his money on alcohol and became aggressive whenever he drank.
11.  That judgment was upheld in a judgment of 12 April 2001 by the Veliko Tarnovo Court of Appeal (Апелативен съд) on an appeal by the applicant, and was subsequently transmitted to the Ruse Municipal Council on 7 June 2001 for the appointment of a guardian.
12.  Since the applicant’s family members had refused to take on any guardianship responsibilities, on 23 May 2002 the Municipal Council appointed Ms R.P., a council officer, as the applicant’s guardian until 31 December 2002.
13.  On 29 May 2002 R.P. asked the Ruse social services to place the applicant in a social care home for people with mental disorders. She appended to the application form a series of documents including a psychiatric diagnosis. Social services drew up a welfare report on the applicant, noting on 23 July 2002 that he was suffering from schizophrenia, that he lived alone in a small, run-down annexe to his half-sister’s house and that his half-sister and his father’s second wife had stated that they did not wish to act as his guardian. The requirements for placement in a social care home were therefore deemed to be fulfilled.
14.  On 10 December 2002 a welfare-placement agreement was signed between R.P. and the social care home for adults with mental disorders near the village of Pastra in the municipality of Rila (“the Pastra social care home”), an institution under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. The applicant was not informed of the agreement.
15.  Later that day, the applicant was taken by ambulance to the Pastra social care home, some 400 km from Ruse. Before the Court, he stated that he had not been told why he was being placed in the home or for how long; the Government did not dispute this.
16.  On 14 December 2002, at the request of the Director of the Pastra social care home, the applicant was registered as having his home address in the municipality of Rila. The residence certificate stated that his address had been changed for the purpose of his “permanent supervision”. According to the most recent evidence submitted in February 2011, the applicant was still living in the home at that time.
17.  On 9 September 2005 the applicant’s lawyer requested the Rila Municipal Council to appoint a guardian for her client. In a letter dated 16 September 2005, she was informed that the Municipal Council had decided on 2 February 2005 to appoint the Director of the Pastra social care home as the applicant’s guardian.
18.  The agreement signed between the guardian R.P. and the Pastra social care home on 10 December 2002 (see paragraph 14 above) did not mention the applicant’s name. It stated that the home was to provide food, clothing, medical services, heating and, obviously, accommodation, in return for payment of an amount determined by law. It appears that the applicant’s entire invalidity pension was transferred to the home to cover that amount. The agreement stipulated that 80% of the sum was to be used as payment for the services provided and the remaining 20% put aside for personal expenses. According to the information in the case file, the applicant’s invalidity pension, as updated in 2008, amounted to 130 Bulgarian levs (BGN – approximately 65 euros (EUR)). The agreement did not specify the duration of the provision of the services in question.
19.  The Pastra social care home is located in an isolated area of the Rila mountains in south-west Bulgaria. It is accessible via a dirt track from the village of Pastra, the nearest locality 8 km away.
20.  The home, built in the 1920s, comprises three buildings, where its residents, all male, are housed according to the state of their mental health. According to a report produced by the Social Assistance Agency in April 2009, there were seventy-three people living in the home, one was in hospital and two had absconded. Among the residents, twenty-three were entirely lacking legal capacity, two were partially lacking capacity and the others enjoyed full legal capacity. Each building has a yard surrounded by a high metal fence. The applicant was placed in block 3 of the home, reserved for residents with the least serious health problems, who were able to move around the premises and go alone to the nearest village with prior permission.
21.  According to the applicant, the home was decaying, dirty and rarely heated in winter and, as a result, he and the other residents were obliged to sleep in their coats during winter. The applicant shared a room measuring 16 sq. m with four other residents and the beds were practically side by side. He had only a bedside table in which to store his clothes, but he preferred to keep them in his bed at night for fear that they might be stolen and replaced with old clothes. The home’s residents did not have their own items of clothing because clothes were not returned to the same people after being washed.
22.  The applicant asserted that the food provided at the home was insufficient and of poor quality. He had no say in the choice of meals and was not allowed to help prepare them.
23.  Access to the bathroom, which was unhealthy and decrepit, was permitted once a week. The toilets in the courtyard, which were unhygienic and in a very poor state of repair, consisted of holes in the ground covered by dilapidated shelters. Each toilet was shared by at least eight people. Toiletries were available only sporadically.
24.  In their memorial before the Grand Chamber, the Government stated that renovation work had been carried out in late 2009 in the part of the home where the applicant lived, including the sanitary facilities. The home now had central heating. The diet was varied and regularly included fruit and vegetables as well as meat. Residents had access to television, books and games. The State provided them all with clothes. The applicant did not dispute these assertions.
25.  The home’s management kept hold of the applicant’s identity papers, allowing him to leave the home only with special permission from the Director. He regularly went to the village of Pastra. It appears that during the visits he mainly provided domestic help to villagers or carried out tasks at the village restaurant.
26.  Between 2002 and 2006 the applicant returned to Ruse three times on leave of absence. Each trip was authorised for a period of about ten days. The journey cost BGN 60 (approximately EUR 30), which was paid to the applicant by the home’s management.
27.  The applicant returned to Pastra before the end of his authorised period of leave after his first two visits to Ruse. According to a statement made by the Director of the home to the public prosecutor’s office on an unspecified date, the applicant came back early because he was unable to manage his finances and had no accommodation.
28.  The third period of leave was authorised from 15 to 25 September 2006. After the applicant failed to return on the scheduled date, the Director of the home wrote to the Ruse municipal police on 13 October 2006, asking them to search for the applicant and transfer him to Sofia, where employees of the home would be able to collect him and take him back to Pastra. On 19 October 2006 the Ruse police informed the Director that the applicant’s whereabouts had been discovered but that the police could not transfer him because he was not the subject of a wanted notice. He was driven back to the social care home on 31 October 2006, apparently by staff of the home.
29.  The applicant had access to a television set, several books and a chessboard in a common room at the home until 3 p.m., after which the room was kept locked. The room was not heated in winter and the residents kept their coats, hats and gloves on when inside. No other social, cultural or sports activities were available.
30.  The applicant submitted that the staff at the social care home had refused to supply him with envelopes for his correspondence and that, as he did not have access to his own money, he could not buy any either. The staff would ask him to give them any sheets of paper he wished to post so that they could put them in envelopes and send them off for him.
31.  It appears from a medical certificate of 15 June 2005 (see paragraph 37 below) that, following his placement in the home in 2002, the applicant was given anti-psychotic medication (carbamazepine (600 mg)) under the monthly supervision of a psychiatrist.
32.  In addition, at the Grand Chamber hearing the applicant’s representatives stated that their client had been in stable remission since 2006 and had not undergone any psychiatric treatment in recent years.
33.  Once a year, the Director of the social care home and the home’s social worker drew up evaluation reports on the applicant’s behaviour and social skills. The reports indicated that the applicant was uncommunicative, preferred to stay on his own rather than join in group activities, refused to take his medication and had no close relatives to visit while on leave of absence. He was not on good terms with his half-sister and nobody was sure whether he had anywhere to live outside the social care home. The reports concluded that it was impossible for the applicant to reintegrate into society, and set the objective of ensuring that he acquired the necessary skills and knowledge for social resettlement and, in the long term, reintegration into his family. It appears that he was never offered any therapy to that end.
34.  The case file indicates that in 2005 the applicant’s guardian asked the Municipal Council to grant a social allowance to facilitate his reintegration into the community. Further to that request, on 30 December 2005 the municipal social assistance department carried out a “social assessment” (социална оценка) of the applicant, which concluded that he was incapable of working, even in a sheltered environment, and had no need for training or retraining, and that in those circumstances he was entitled to a social allowance to cover the costs of his transport, subsistence and medication. On 7 February 2007 the municipal social assistance department granted the applicant a monthly allowance of BGN 16.50 (approximately EUR 8). On 3 February 2009 the allowance was increased to BGN 19.50 (approximately EUR 10).
35.  In addition, at his lawyer’s request, the applicant was examined on 31 August 2006 by Dr V.S., a different psychiatrist from the one who regularly visited the social care home, and by a psychologist, Ms I.A. The report drawn up on that occasion concluded that the diagnosis of schizophrenia given on 15 June 2005 (see paragraph 37 below) was inaccurate in that the patient did not display all the symptoms of that condition. It stated that, although the applicant had suffered from the condition in the past, he had not shown any signs of aggression at the time of the examination but rather a suspicious attitude and a slight tendency towards “verbal aggression”; that he had not undergone any treatment for the condition between 2002 and 2006; and that his health had visibly stabilised. The report noted that no risk of deterioration of his mental health had been observed and stated that, in the opinion of the home’s Director, the applicant was capable of reintegrating into society.
36.  According to the report, the applicant’s stay in the Pastra social care home was very damaging to his health and it was desirable that he should leave the home, otherwise he was at risk of developing “institutionalisation syndrome” the longer he stayed there. The report added that it would be more beneficial to his mental health and social development to allow him to integrate into community life with as few restrictions as possible, and that the only aspect to monitor was his tendency towards alcohol abuse, which had been apparent prior to 2002. In the view of the experts who had examined the applicant, the behaviour of an alcohol-dependent person could have similar characteristics to that of a person with schizophrenia; accordingly, vigilance was required in the applicant’s case and care should be taken not to confuse the two conditions.
37.  On 25 November 2004 the applicant, through his lawyer, asked the public prosecutor’s office to apply to the Regional Court to have his legal capacity restored. On 2 March 2005 the public prosecutor requested the Pastra social care home to send him a doctor’s opinion and other medical certificates concerning the applicant’s disorders in preparation for a possible application to the courts for restoration of his legal capacity. Further to that request, the applicant was admitted to a psychiatric hospital from 31 May to 15 June 2005 for a medical assessment. In a certificate issued on the latter date, the doctors attested that the applicant showed symptoms of schizophrenia. As his health had not deteriorated since he had been placed in the home in 2002, the regime to which he was subject there had remained unchanged. He had been on maintenance medication since 2002 under the monthly supervision of a psychiatrist. A psychological examination had revealed that he was agitated, tense and suspicious. His communication skills were poor and he was unaware of his illness. He had said that he wanted to leave the home at all costs. The doctors did not express an opinion either on his capacity for resettlement or on the need to keep him in the Pastra social care home.
38.  On 10 August 2005 the regional prosecutor refused to bring an action for restoration of the applicant’s legal capacity on the grounds that, in the opinion of the doctors, the Director of the Pastra social care home and the home’s social worker, the applicant was unable to cope on his own, and that the home, where he could undergo medical treatment, was the most suitable place for him to live. The applicant’s lawyer challenged the refusal to bring the action, arguing that her client should have the opportunity to assess by himself whether or not, having regard to the living conditions at the home, it was in his interests to remain there. She pointed out that the enforced continuation of his stay in the home, on the pretext of providing him with treatment in his own interests, amounted in practice to a deprivation of liberty, a situation that was unacceptable. A person could not be placed in an institution without his or her consent. In accordance with the legislation in force, anyone under partial guardianship was free to choose his or her place of residence, with the guardian’s agreement. The choice of residence was therefore not a matter within the competence of the prosecution service. Despite those objections, the regional prosecutor’s refusal was upheld on 11 October 2005 by the appellate prosecutor, and subsequently on 29 November 2005 by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Supreme Court of Cassation.
39.  On 9 September 2005 the applicant, through his lawyer, asked the mayor of Rila to bring a court action for his release from partial guardianship. In a letter of 16 September 2005, the mayor of Rila refused his request, stating that there was no basis for such an action in view of the medical certificate of 15 June 2005, the opinions of the Director and the social worker, and the conclusions reached by the public prosecutor’s office. On 28 September 2005 the applicant’s lawyer applied to the Dupnitsa District Court for judicial review of the mayor’s decision, under Article 115 of the Family Code (“the FC”) (see paragraph 49 below). In a letter of 7 October 2005, the District Court stated that since the applicant was partially lacking legal capacity he was required to submit a valid form of authority certifying that his lawyer was representing him, and that it should be specified whether his guardian had intervened in the procedure. On an unspecified date the applicant’s lawyer submitted a copy of the form of authority signed by the applicant. She also requested that the guardian join the proceedings as an interested party or that an ad hoc representative be appointed. On 18 January 2006 the court held a hearing at which the representative of the mayor of Rila objected that the form of authority was invalid as it had not been countersigned by the guardian. The guardian, who was present at the hearing, stated that he was not opposed to the applicant’s application, but that the latter’s old-age pension was insufficient to meet his needs and that, accordingly, the Pastra social care home was the best place for him to live.
40.  The Dupnitsa District Court gave judgment on 10 March 2006. As to the admissibility of the application for judicial review, it held that, although the applicant had instructed his lawyer to represent him, she was not entitled to act on his behalf since the guardian had not signed the form of authority. However, it held that the guardian’s endorsement of the application at the public hearing had validated all the procedural steps taken by the lawyer, and that the application was therefore admissible. As to the merits, the court dismissed the application, finding that the guardian had no legitimate interest in contesting the mayor’s refusal, given that he could apply independently and directly for the applicant to be released from partial guardianship. Since the judgment was not subject to appeal, it became final.
41.  Lastly, the applicant asserted that he had made several oral requests to his guardian to apply for his release from partial guardianship and to allow him to leave the home. However, his requests had always been refused.